Disappointment. It’s a feeling everyone has experienced many times, yet each instance still hurts. Disappointment in cinema is not uncommon. When you watch enough movies, you will inevitably be let down, whether it’s due to poor acting, writing, directing or something else entirely. “Killers of the Flower Moon,” directed by Martin Scorsese, is an unfortunate example of such a letdown. While it is not a bad movie in any respect, “Killers of the Flower Moon” lives in the realm of mediocrity, something previously thought impossible in a Scorsese film.
In truth, a significant cause for this disappointment is the movie’s director. Martin Scorsese has long been thought of as one of the greatest and most visionary filmmakers of all time, responsible for masterpieces like “Goodfellas,” “Casino” and “The Departed.” Making movies since the seventies, he was one of the few directors who prioritized making films of the utmost quality. Unfortunately, in this case, he has missed his mark.
Set in 1920s Oklahoma and based on a non-fiction book by David Grann, the movie focuses on a series of murders of Osage (native American tribe that won private land from the American government) tribe members and relations in the Osage Nation after oil was discovered on that land. Tribe members had retained mineral rights on their reservation, and White opportunists sought to gain their wealth. The film attempts to explore not only the murders themselves but also greed, wealth, conspiracy and racism.
From the summary, the film sounds excellent, especially when combined with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, two of the greatest actors of all time. It seemed like an easy home run for Scorsese. However, this is not the case. Instead of the incredible cinematic experience audiences attributed to a Scorsese film, we got a three-and-a-half-hour-long snooze fest, populated with a few entertaining and exciting scenes and a whole lot of lethargy.
Although “Killers of the Flower Moon” did have its entertaining elements, it also had many shortcomings. These came in the form of drawn-out pacing, unnecessary scenes, several poor character introductions and an overall failure to create genuine emotional stakes for the audience—all leading to a bland and tiresome watch.
Thankfully, the film did have its upsides, elevating it from bad to mediocre. The soundtrack, the cinematography and the acting were excellent, collectively saving the movie from a complete and utter failure. Firstly, the soundtrack was one of the few genuinely brilliant parts of the movie. It effectively added to almost every scene of the film and evoked shivers in the audience. The cinematography was similarly genius, with a wide range of stunning landscape shots and other more dark and depressing scenes of death and destruction. However, the acting is what truly saved the movie. The character portrayals were magnificent, featuring one of DiCaprio’s best performances, an excellent performance by Robert De Niro, and the highlight of the whole film, Lily Gladstone, who blew the rest of the cast out of the water with her jaw-dropping performance.
Overall, if you can only watch one three-hour film released in 2023 by an incredible director with a fantastic cast on the big screen, watch “Oppenheimer.” Instead, wait until this movie is out of theaters and enjoy it from your couch as you use your phone through all the tedious parts.
